We're Making a Movie

10.02.2010

Sorry for the lack of posts and photos. Twitter has been much easier to do mini-updates in the event that anyone ever wants to see what's going on.

In the interest of documentation, here's a photo and the DVD of what we sent to Sundance. We submitted a rough cut on September 16, but they won't let us know if we're in or not until December. Then the festival is in January.

Day 6 – 9/10Danny and Taylor exercises – read it like _____, walking, and character dialectShow Behind The Scenes of films for inspirationProduction work with John and DJ*FIRST SHOT – plant burial scene 11PM-3AM Problems – no lighting on the field, police interruption, problems drawing power from cars, location contact not presentMelora Walters agrees to do the film in January instead of during the bulk of filming in August

Day 9 – 9/13Diner scene – 11:30AM-10PM Approx. 30 extras Problems – shoot taking longer than agreed with location, not enough time to get close ups, not enough coverage of one scene because everyone was tired – we come back later for close ups and additional coverage

Day 10 - 9/14Work on schedulingJohn and DJ work on house inventory and misc production construction/errandsScout party scene locationTaylor/Dr. Philip Cox rehearsal for Coffee Shop scenes

Day 11 – 9/15-Ava Kelly/Lisa arrives from New York and rehearses with Danny and Alaana Jordan/Park Worker Ana for party scenes-Taylor and Matthew Martin/Manager Richie go out for lunch to get to know each other-Coffee Shop scene filming Extras - 10Problems – Location agreed to allow unlimited filming time and restricted the time to 4 hours when we arrived (NOT ENOUGH TIME), and the location would not let us turn off the fridge which made for bad sound

Day 15 – 9/19Phone scene with Taylor and Gloria Lundberg/Maggie’s Mom/my Grandmother Problems – the key to the scene was to give my grandmother a brownie so she would concentrate on getting brownie out of her teeth instead of “acting”Dream sequence shot of Danny in a big paroking lot

Day 17 – 9/21Phone calls all day trying to secure grocery store location

Day 18 – 9/22Matthew Martin/Manager Richie and Taylor walking with couch scene Problems – 1 hour into filming, we realized the sound was bad. We had to re-scout and film that day before Matthew had to be at work that afternoonCorporate meeting with Western grocery stores – new grocery approvedDramatic evening

Day 23 – 9/27Car flip day Problems – poor location, poor planning, bomb squad contact backing out to help, trying to gather materials too late The car flip failed, and we smashed a window instead to simulate a car crashMyles and Danny hang out

Day 24 – 9/28Myron and Danny hang out and rehearseBob Fitts/Paul/Manager Gordon rehearsal with DannyShoot family portrait of the Gordon’se-mails and scheduling catch up

Day 25 – 9/29Meeting with Grocery store general manager, errandsDanny/Myles/Bob scenes at Gordon house and driving around neighborhood scenes (2PM-11PM) Problems – running out of light, strapping camera to car takes a little bit of time

Day 26 – 9/30More Gordon house driving scenes 1PM-4PM Problems – timing issuesPicking up Myron at the school scene 4PM-7PM Problems – running out of light

Day 42 – 10/16Explosion scene day 1 - Problems – promptness, coordination of everyone and the location, walking everyone through all actions too too much time, steadicam delays in assembly, BOMB SQUAD BACKS OUT THE DAY BEFORE THE EXPLOSION, make up delays, tire burning learning curve, costume purchase delays

Day 47 – 10/21Puzzle heist and montage – 10AM-2PM Problems – finding location the day ofLAST MINUTE BOMB SQUAD SCRAMBLE -Since the first bomb squad backed out the day before the explosion, 4 other bomb squads agreed to do it and subsequently backed out. The day before the newly planned explosion, the Gadsden bomb squad agreed but not without a permit from the state fire marshall. Arranging for a permit 3 hours before close was nearly impossible.Football stadium shot – 4PM Problems – Boone gets recognized during a stolen shot, we get in trouble and aren’t allowed to film it – but we steal it anyway